Special Armored Trooper Dorvack

Special Armored Trooper Dorvack (特装機兵ドルバック Tokusō Kihei Dorubakku)<ref>Often rendered by fans as "Special Armored Battalion Dorvack", but that doesn't quite match the kanji. The English title on official material is Powered Armor Dorvack.</ref> was a mecha franchise spanning 1983–1984, supporting a toyline by Takatoku Toys. Its media centerpiece was a 36-episode anime produced by Ashi Productions.

As part of their need for more toys in their burgeoning and very successful 1984 Transformers toyline, Hasbro would license two of the toyline's three mecha molds—producing the 1985 Deluxe Vehicle assortment that included Roadbuster and Whirl.

Story

In 1999, the alien Idelians (イデリア人) in their colony-ship have arrived in Earth orbit and have staged an invasion. Many forces on Earth attempt to fight the aliens with their "powered armor", but the only unit with success is the Dorvack battalion led by Colonel Yoichi Takagi (高城 洋一). Their mecha are able to transform between vehicular and humanoid modes as the situation requires in the battle against the Idelians.

Mecha

Bonaparte Tulcas

In Dorvack, the mecha are known as "Variable Machines" (バリアブルマシーン, "VM" for short), vehicles converted to be able to transform into a humanoid robot mode.

• VV-54AR Mugen Caliber<ref>This is Romanized on the Japanese packaging as "Mugen Calibur", but the likely intention is the English word "caliber". Mugen (無限) means "infinite".</ref> (ムゲンキャリバー), off-road vehicle piloted by Japanese Masato Mugen (無限 真人 Mugen Masato)
  • Was used for Roadbuster
• VH-64MR Oberon Gazzette<ref>This is Romanized on the Japanese packaging as "Ovelon Gazzette".</ref> (オベロンガゼット), helicopter piloted by American Louie Oberon (ルイ・オベロン)
  • Was used for Whirl
• VT-61LC Bonaparte Tulcas (ボナパルトタルカス), tank piloted by French Pierre Bonaparte (ピエール・ボナパルト) and later British Stanley Hilton (スタンレー・ヒルトン)
  • Considered for Transformers but ultimately unused, likely due to its barely humanoid robot mode, later inspired Headcannon

Dorvack in Transformers

In 1984, Takatoku collapsed as a company, halting any further plans for another franchise, Beetras. Their assets would soon be bought out by Bandai, who then subsequently loaned the Dorvack molds to Hasbro, who was desperately needing molds to fill out the 1985 product line of the unexpectedly popular Transformers. Two molds were selected out of the set and were given new color schemes as the "Deluxe Vehicles". As Bandai at the time was only concerned about business in Japan, Hasbro was free to sell the molds as Transformers figures in non-Japan markets, but couldn't use the Deluxe Vehicles in the accompanying cartoon, as to not step on the toes of Bandai with the cartoon also airing in Japan. They were also not included in the contemporary comic in the United States but made prominent appearances as Wreckers in the UK version of the comic.

Curiously, before Roadbuster, Mugen Caliber's rifle had also been previously featured alongside a Transformers mold, although in a less-than-official capacity: famously, it was included in a Diaclone-based Taiwanese knockoff of the Generation 1 Optimus Prime mold, replacing his usual ion blaster... And then this same knockoff would be later repackaged by Korean company ToonTown in 1997 and sold under the name of "Battle Supplier" as part of the Transformers: Generation 2 line, seemingly under a legitimate Hasbro license. Odd stuff.

In later times, the Deluxe Vehicles have made more appearances, eventually even getting modern toys in the Generations: Thrilling 30 toyline. References to Dorvack itself in Transformers are scant.

Fiction

Legends World

After being transformed by the Legends World's spirit energy into a cool robot, Rhinox intensified his obsession with the '80s by adopting a "'80s real robot anime-style" transformation. LG03 Tankor After his initial plan to use the '80s-ization beam failed, he used his Bonapar Island facilities to build Roadbuster and Whirl based on an '80s anime that he could never finish saying the name of without being interrupted. In accordance, Roadbuster would usually end his sentences with "vack" (バック) and Whirl did the same with "dor" (ドル).

When Tankor rampaged in Tokyo with his creations, Waspinator identified the two robots as Wreckers from the British Transformers comic book, which infuriated the '80s Japan-obsessed Tankor. When Whirl met a human and decided to oppose his creator, he changed his vocal tic to "whi" (ホワ). LG04 Roadbuster Roadbuster would follow by changing to "buster" (バスター). LG05 Whirl

References

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External links

• [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Special Armored Battalion Dorvack|{{#if:||Special Armored Battalion Dorvack}}]] at Wikipedia